Chapter 47: I Am the Smartest Person in the World
Airport.
Jane finally said nothing more and watched Chuck enter the terminal.
She had already said everything she could—what more did she want from herself?
She couldn't actually follow her aunt's advice and throw herself at him!
BAU's temporary field office in Wind River Valley.
"Chuck left?"
Reid looked up immediately when he saw Jane return.
"Yeah."
Jane suppressed her disappointment and nodded with a forced smile.
"Quantico isn't far from New Jersey. I'll visit him on my next leave. I've actually never been to New York City."
Reid smiled.
"You've never been to New York?"
Agent Morgan had been monitoring the conversation. Hearing this, he responded in disbelief.
"No."
Reid shook his head.
"How is that possible!"
Elle was equally puzzled: "It's New York City!"
"It's New York, not San Diego."
Reid smiled: "Why would I necessarily have been there?"
"San Diego?"
Elle looked at Reid in confusion.
"They host Comic-Con every year... Never mind,"
Reid started to explain, but seeing the blank stares from Elle and the others, and realizing their complete lack of interest in comic conventions, he waved the topic away.
"Have you known Chuck for long?"
Jane couldn't help but ask.
"Seven years."
Reid nodded. "He's the most brilliant person I've ever encountered!"
"More brilliant than you and Gideon?"
Agent Morgan looked skeptical. "I'd love to see who'd win a chess match between him and Gideon."
Reid had an IQ of 187. At only 23, he already held three PhDs and three bachelor's degrees. Even this super genius consistently lost at chess to Gideon, the BAU veteran.
"Chess ability doesn't directly correlate with IQ. It also involves psychological factors and pattern recognition."
Reid shook his head: "Chuck's intelligence shows in his raw intellectual capacity, but he also enjoys chess. I'd be curious to see him play Gideon too."
"Come on!"
Agent Morgan shrugged. "You always sell yourself short and put others on pedestals. I don't believe anyone has a higher IQ than you. I'm convinced the reason you felt intimidated by him before was because you were just a kid then and lacked experience."
"In science, age and experience aren't the deciding factors. Raw intelligence and natural insight are what matter. Many great scientists peaked when they were young. As they aged, they became less productive because their thinking wasn't as sharp and they lost that spark."
Reid was emphatic: "And Chuck is only 22, a year younger than me."
"What?!"
Agent Morgan was stunned: "He's only 22, younger than you?"
"Yes."
Reid nodded matter-of-factly.
"He seems way too mature for his age."
Agent Morgan complained, "So he was only 15 seven years ago?"
"Exactly."
Reid explained, "I was 16 then and had just earned my PhD in mathematics. I met Chuck, who had just started college. After one conversation with him, I decided to abandon any thoughts of pursuing advanced mathematics research.
Mathematics is the true queen of sciences. It represents that crucial one percent that must be mastered, and achieving greatness in it is extraordinarily rare.
At that level, the gap between Chuck and me is no smaller than the gap between me and an elementary school student just learning basic arithmetic. Compared to the scientific giants destined to appear in textbooks and inspire future generations, I'm essentially no different from that elementary school student. That's why I voluntarily stepped away from pure mathematics."
"..."
Everyone was speechless.
Are you sure that's what students find inspiring, and not the source of their nightmares?
"He may be exceptional... but you're being dramatic."
Agent Morgan said helplessly, "You're the smartest person I've ever met. A 23-year-old with three doctorates and three bachelor's degrees. At least in terms of academic achievement, you've got him beat."
"You don't understand."
Reid shook his head. "It took me four years from high school to earn my first doctorate in mathematics, while my other two doctorates and three bachelor's degrees took only six years total. If Chuck wanted to, he could have surpassed my academic record years ago, but unless he saw the point, collecting more degrees would be meaningless to him."
"Are there really people that smart in the world?"
Hearing this, communications liaison JJ also expressed her skepticism.
Reid's genius was well-known to all of them. After working together for so long, he still amazed them regularly.
That such a Reid would hold Chuck in such high regard was beyond their comprehension.
"Let me give you the simplest example."
Seeing that everyone remained unconvinced, Reid tried his best to explain: "I studied chemistry for my second doctorate, which took me a full year.
But Chuck had never studied chemistry before. He once encountered a graduate student who was finishing her chemistry PhD and struggling with her dissertation. When she said she was too busy with her thesis to see him, Chuck left, spent one afternoon browsing chemistry texts in the library, then returned to this doctoral candidate, solved all the complex problems in her dissertation, and convinced her to go out with him."
"Did she go?"
Compared to Agent Morgan and the others who were completely stunned, Jane's focus was entirely different.
"Of course."
Reid looked at Jane and nodded.
Jane silently cursed—this must have been one of his six practice partners.
While everyone was talking, the two actual leaders of the BAU, Gideon and Unit Chief Hotchner, had been listening quietly. Gideon leaned back thoughtfully, while Hotchner sat at his desk processing paperwork. Then his phone rang, drawing everyone's attention. After answering and speaking briefly, he hung up and addressed the team: "We have news about Matt Olson."
Atop the snow-covered peaks of Wind River Valley.
"This is poetic justice."
Looking at Matt Olson in his pajamas, barefoot, running through the snow with his face bloodied, Agent Elle couldn't help but comment.
This death mirrored exactly that of the Native American girl Natalie Hansen.
"An eye for an eye."
Agent Morgan grimly directed everyone's attention to Matt Olson's groin area.
"..."
Everyone's expressions turned uncomfortable.
New Jersey.
At the Hofstadter residence.
Little Leonard watched jealously as his mother brought little Sheldon another personally prepared hot cocoa.
It had been two days.
This arrogant little show-off had been going on about some complex mathematical problem, pretending to work on calculations. His mother, however, was completely charmed, providing the little bragger with the most attentive care and support, much to Leonard's resentment.
He, her actual son, had never received such treatment for even a single day.
Who was the real son here?!
If he weren't afraid of upsetting his father, he would have demanded an explanation long ago.
"I solved it!"
Suddenly, little Sheldon, who had been absorbed in his work, put down his pencil, looked up, and began jumping with excitement. "I am the smartest person in the world!"
(End of chapter)
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